Japanese movies always make us smile with their beautiful story, and make us feel butterflies because of the chemistry between them. Japanese movies have such a positive impact, that no wonder watching movies is a hobby for many people. But, apart from these movies, there are so many other movies that make our heartbreak. These films pull our heartstrings. As there is a well-known quote ‘Not every story has a happy ending’. Let’s see the top 10 heart-breaking Japanese movies:
1. A Litre Of Tears
As the name suggests, watching this movie will make you shed a lot of tears. This movie is adapted from the same-titled novel, it is based on a true story of a girl named Aya Kito who is coping with a fatal and incurable disease called ‘Spinocerebellar ataxia’ or ‘Spinocerebellar degeneration’. It is mainly based on the diary, the girl wrote. She wrote her personal struggles in coping with the disease and this diary was shortly published after her death. The movie portrays her will to live and how she and the people around her cope with her day-to-day emotional and physical pain as she loses her abilities one by one gradually.
2. Nobody Knows
Nobody Knows is a Japanese drama film based on the 1988 Sugamo Child Abandonment case. It is a story of 4 children between 5yrs to 12 yrs old: Akira, Kyoko, Shigeru, and Yuki. They are half-siblings, with different fathers. Their mother leaves them alone for weeks in an apartment and never returns. This movie shows how they have to rely on one another when multiple challenges come to them. But the most heartbreaking thing happens when one of the children dies from falling from a stool, and they somehow borrow money to buy chocolates and stuff everything along with the child’s body and bury it in an open field near Haneda airport.
3. I Give My First Love To You
The story revolves around Maya and Takuma, who are childhood friends. At the age of 8, they got to know that Takuma is suffering from a terminal illness and he will die before the age of 20. He promises Maya that he will marry her when they become 20yrs old. Despite knowing this, they still fall in love with each other. Takuma tries to push her away because he cannot see her cry. Suddenly new people enter their life which makes them break up but they still find their way to each other. When Takuma suffers his first heart attack, he prays to live a little longer and surprisingly he survives, and both Maya and Takuma visit many places. Takuma gives Maya his letter which he wrote when he was 8yrs old. Takuma passes away when he suffers from 2nd heart attack. The film ends with Maya borrowing his ashes and going to church to have a wedding, to fulfill their promise.
4. Grave Of The Fireflies
Grave of the fireflies is an animated movie about 2 siblings, 14-year-old Seita and 4-year-old Setsuko, and how they struggle to live in Japan during the second world war. Setsuko starts dying from malnutrition and starvation. Seita takes all money to buy some food. When he returns, he gives Setsuko a slice of watermelon and tells her to wait so that he can cook something but she dies shortly after.
5. Aishiteru
The story tells a 5th-grade elementary school boy named Tomoya who is a murder suspect and he has to be locked up in bars at an early age. This film portrays Tomoya’s emotions while he lives in prison, and also how his parents get ridiculed by the public. And finally, Tomoya gives the truth about what happened.
6. Be With You
This film is based on a novel about a woman who promises her son and her husband that after her death she would come back in the rainy season next year. And as promised they found the woman in the forest during the rainy season but she has no memory, no clue why she was there. They soon connect a bond together. As the rainy season draws closer, it was the time for her return back. What is the mystery behind this? What happens when her son finds a time capsule?
7. The Liar And His Lover
This film revolves around a 25-year-old highly successful music composer named Aki Gosawara and a 16-year-old high school student named Riko who possesses a gifted voice. Aki is desperate to feel something for someone, so he courts Riko even though he has no feeling for her. When Aki realizes, he really loves her, it is the worst time because Riko already discovered his lies.
8. Yuuki
Yuuki is based on the true story of a man who died at the age of 23 because of suffering from a terminal disease that weakens the bone strength of the skull. It shows how Yuuki shows bravery and stays positive but in the end, his health starts to deteriorate and he loses the ability to see.
9. My Rainy Days
This film is about a girl named Rio who never cares about anyone. She is the center of attention because of her beauty. But then she meets a 35-year-old college professor Kouki Ozawa and falls in love for the first time. Because of him, she tries to change to be a better version of herself. But suddenly Kouki disappears. And she finds out that he is dying and he didn’t want to hurt her. She convinces him to get a risky operation even if he can’t remember her. He survives but the film doesn’t show if he remembers her. It is kind of an open ending.
10. Crying Of Love In The Center Of The World
This film follows a man named Sako who returns to his hometown and accidentally finds some old cassettes. He listens to them and realizes that the audio is recorded by his school sweetheart before her death. He and his fiancé together fulfill her last wish.
